Letters From War
by S.D.Blakewood
Summary: Bella Swan has always loved her high school friend Alice Brandon, but when life gets in the way and Bella becomes a U.S Navy SEAL they completely lose touch. The only way that Bella can feel close to her is to write letters that she knows Alice may never read. Is there some way that they can reunite and start a journey that has been waiting in the sidelines all their lives?
1. Introduction

Introduction

_Growing up a Navy SEAL_

Since we were born my father has been as tough as nails on my brother James and me. Good grades meant everything to him and anything below a C was simply unacceptable. I remember being twelve and once coming home with an exam paper that had a huge disheartening C- written at the top of it in red ink. I stood outside on our porch for nearing on two hours before working up the courage to face him. Lets just say that to this day I can still feel the sting of his infamous saddle girth across the back of my legs.

To some that may seem harsh and at the time I hated him for it, but looking back I now know that he was doing it for our own good. His tough nature was to instil his children with a degree of discipline, which would help us in later life.

He ruled us with an iron fist, accepting nothing but what he deemed to be the best of the best. He tolerated nothing; disobedience was a crime in our household, which might as well have been a hanging offence. Rudeness was right up there with the best of them so James and me fast became the politest children you would have ever met.

My father served in the U.S Armed Forces and like all military men he expected his children to follow in his footsteps and loyally serve their country. So from a young age we spent our childhood preparing for that life.

We were forever out in the woods hunting and learning to shoot; at the age of eight I was a better marksman than my brother who is two years my senior. My father taught us how to survive out there, what you could and couldn't eat, how to build a shelter and most importantly, how to not be seen by your prey.

The most valuable thing that my father ever taught us however was to swim, there was a big lake near wear we lived and all summer he would have us out there swimming, diving and racing each other. James fast became better than me in the water, but still I liked to think I was to a good standard. When my father was finished with us we were as comfortable in the water as were out of it.

At home we lived on a small but honest working ranch, my mother loved horses and anyone that knew her would swear by her expertise. People from all over would travel to Biloxi, Mississippi just so she could train their horses. We would often than not spend our summers out there helping her by either cleaning out the stables or feeding the horses; that's when our father wasn't training us of course.

I guess you must be asking how we ever had a life out of all of this, and the short and simple truth is that we didn't. The only time we had away from life on our ranch was whilst we were in school. From eight o'clock in the morning to five in the afternoon we were for all intense and purposes, free from my fathers shackles. Now don't get me wrong its not like I hated my father for what he was doing; quite the opposite actually, but it was nice for us both to be our own person and let our personalities shine through a little bit.

At school was where I met Mary Alice Brandon, for years we never spoke because she had the stigma that came along with being one of the popular kids. People that knew her seemed to be fascinated and the people that didn't either wanted to be friends with her or just simply hated her.

Being raised by my father I knew better than to judge a book by its cover, so whilst yes I never really spoke to her I knew from what little interactions we shared that she was a nice, down to earth girl.

Our last year of school was when Alice and me suddenly became inseparable during school hours. We were made lab partners in Mr. Molina's Biology class, and as we began to talk it was mind-numbing how many interests we shared. She loved animals and when I told her what my mom did for a living and that we lived on a ranch she often insisted that she come over and help her out.

When school ended Alice left Biloxi to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. We stayed in touch for a few years before I eventually joined up at the age of twenty-three. From a very young age I knew that I wanted be a U.S Navy SEAL, now my father told me that as a woman I would have a tougher time of it and I would be pushed harder than anyone else during training.

To combat that from the age of fifteen my father put me in touch with a martial arts teachers and one of the hardest sons-of-a-bitches you would ever meet. Eleazar Denali was a retired Navy SEAL and he trained a group of us during my teenage years. To say I was terrified on the man is an understatement; the six-foot man was a hundred and seventy pounds of pure muscle.

I still have nightmares of him shouting in my ear as I ran with a rubber tire on my back for hours on end. Eleazar didn't do exercise classes, no he run a pre-SEAL training program that could bring grown men to their knees.

So with all that I joined up and over the next five years I trained and worked my ass off to achieve my current position of Lieutenant, Team Commander.

"What you writing there?" a voice suddenly calls across from me, and if I wasn't used to the sound of the C-130's roaring engines I probably wouldn't have been able to hear it.

"A letter" I answer without looking up as we currently fly towards our base in Afghanistan after having six months leave. During those months I spent two of them with my parents and whilst I was there I couldn't help but think about how Alice's life panned out. My mom who still speaks with Alice's mother told me that she is now living in Forks, Washington and is married to some guy named Jasper.

"We've just left home, who you writing to?" the voice persists.

"An old friend, is that alright with you dad?" I answer with a smirk as I glance up at the man opposite me. Emmett Cullen looks back with a toothy grin on his baby-cheeked face.

"Depends who it is, better not be a boy or you won't see outside for a month young lady" he chides with a stern voice; the people within earshot beginning to laugh along with us "seriously though I'm intrigued, who is it?" he asks as he gets up and takes the empty seat beside me. I fold the piece of paper up neatly and place it in the envelope before writing the recipients name and address upon it "Mary Alice Brandon" Emmett mutters under his breath "you've never mentioned her before"

"Like I said its just an old friend, probably won't even end up sending it" after stuffing the letter in the breast pocket of my vest, I reach down and dig my hand into my green satchel; that's resting between my feet, for the book I'm currently reading. I can tell that Emmett still wants to question me on the matter but considering he's known me since training, he knows when not to push on a subject.

I stare down at the same page in my book for what feels like hours, not passing the first few lines before she once again sidetracks my mind. Guess I should have mentioned earlier that from the very first moment I laid eyes upon Alice I was irrevocably in love with her. I have yearned to be with her almost my entire life, and more than once I have tracked her down to find and tell her my feelings. But when I think about what my life entails and the fact that I will hardly be there for her, along with the fact that she never expressed any interest in woman has always stopped me from going through with it.

"Lt. Swan we are five minutes out" the pilots voice says through mine and everyone else's earpieces.

"Ok as soon as we touch ground I want everyone to unload and then report"

"Yes Lt. Swan"

**A/N - If you have time please leave a review letting me know what you think of this story and what you would like to see from it.**

**Thanks**


	2. Chapter One

I

_Snatch and Grab_

As day broke over the vast U.S Military base near Aranas, Afghanistan my men had just finished unloading the C-130 and were now checking into their bee huts, for some much needed shuteye before briefing in a few hours.

After making sure that everyone was sorted and where they needed to be I attended my own designated hut and unpacked what little personal belongings I had with me. I pull the letter; which I had written earlier, out and stare down at it from where I'm sitting on the bed. Every morning mail is collected at approximately 0800, which is just shy of two hours away. The need to send the letter is overwhelming, but at the same time completely and utterly a mistake.

Shaking my head I decide to go with the latter feeling and stow the letter in a used ammo box that has been stashed under the bed. Closing the lid I push the box back to its original resting place with my foot before moving to lie down on the bed and close my eyes.

During general briefing my three men and me were seconded to Team 3 which is being led by Commanding Officer Felix Volturi, a brute of a man who towers above most of us as he stands at roughly six foot six.

Our briefing like everything else was highly intense, and a kind of grim educational fact relaying exercise on what was happening up in these mountains and surrounding areas we were about to live in for the next eight months. The Taliban have been up here for weeks regrouping and formulating plans on how they can take back their holy grail of a country which they believe the United States of America stole from right underneath their noses.

Up there in the mountains complex paths emerge and then disappear on themselves or behind huge boulders and rocks. Every footstep is a risk as it can either dislodge something and send you tumbling hundreds of feet to your death, or it can take a much more sinister turn with an improvised explosive device. They don't tend to be up in mountains much but for whatever reason there have been three reports of IED's sightings with one resulting in fatality over the last six days.

After briefing and having only been here for nearing on six hours we have been given our first snatch and grab based mission "We heading out?" Emmett asks me as soon as I come out of the Comms Room.

"Yeah" is all I mutter back as I head towards Jacob and Paul Black who are currently sunbathing on loungers "Red Run is a go gentleman, I want you prepped and ready to leave at 1300 hours" I instruct with a slap on Jacob's reddening shoulder before turning to leave.

"Hey so you send your letter?" Emmett asks as he continues to follow me towards the mess hall.

"What is up with you and this letter man?"

"Me? I'm not the one writing the goddamn thing for no reason"

"It wasn't for no reason, besides I sent it so get off my back" I grunt whilst picking up a tray and filling it with a mix of salad and chicken.

"Well that's funny cause I was the one who picked up the mail this morning and I specifically remember not seeing anything for a Mary Alice" he says with an air of cockiness that I hate sometimes. Glaring at him I head over to a free table and drop my tray down upon it before turning to look at him.

"What are you my mother? I wrote a letter what does it matter if I send it or not" sitting down I take out my notepad from my trouser pocket and look over the scribbled notes I'd taken from the mission briefing.

"Sorry" Emmett mutters as he sits down opposite me, stabbing my fork through my forest of lettuce I nod my head before taking the mouthful and chewing it slowly.

We sit there in a comfortable silence as I continue to eat and memorize the keywords for todays mission. In what felt like no time at all we were heading over to where Jacob and Paul are gearing up in a small shack filled with weapons and ammo "How's the tan ladies" I chide with a smirk as Jacob glares at me.

"I can still feel the sting Swan, no wonder you don't get any action if that's what your touch feels like" laughing I shake my head as put on my beige bullet proof vest.

"Don't worry about me not getting any, I think you have enough problems of your own in that department"

"I get plenty of girls" he re-buffs with a shove of his laughing brothers shoulder for good measure "I do" he adds sourly as the three of us snicker to ourselves. As we ready up and the time ticks ever closer to 1300 our joking subsides a little. Not because we are scared or anything, but to do this job you have to be in the right frame of mind. Goofing around is all well and good but out there it can cost you your life.

We flew into the mountains by helicopter, there's around ten of us making our way up here for just one man. A man that our intelligence suggests is linked to the Taliban on a massive level, getting him out alive is our top priority.

After being left at the drop point; the location of which has been coded Red One for our mission, we broke off into two teams. Team 1 have been tasked with infiltrating the building we believe our man is hauled up in and Team 2 are going to maintain the perimeter around the village and watch out for any hostiles.

Today my men and me are part of Team 2. As I walk to my pre-planned position I tread carefully after being briefed that this particular village is known to house Taliban and Afghan people that were not opposed to putting up a fight. So I was taking very cautious steps, a dislodged rock, however small it may be would betray our positions.

Carefully I advance along the ridge, stopping every now and then to take a look around the mountain with my binos. I'm walking as silently as I can, my mind clear and focused on the mission.

As I continued my silent patrol I hunkered down behind a huge boulder so I could check my position and have another look around. When I saw that it was clear and that I also needed to travel further down the pass I stepped out from behind my boulder, only to see four armed Afghanistan tribesmen.

There's around sixty yards between them and me and as I stood there my mind raced. Do I open fire? How many more of them are there? But it didn't matter because they opened fire first, shooting at me from their positions further down the hill. An array of bullets from their AK-47's slamming against the rocks all around me.

I hurled myself back behind the boulder and looked around quickly, Jacob must have heard that seen as he's the closest to me. Leaning out from behind my cover I quickly let out some suppressing fire and watch as they retreat behind rocks and trees themselves.

"Team 2 we have the package, I repeat we have the package over," a voice suddenly says in my ear. Taking a quick glance out again I just manage to catch sight of one of the tribesmen ducking back behind his tree, well I least I have them pinned down now where the hell is Jacob?

As if I had spoken to soon the men suddenly came back at me and again I returned fire, but as if from nowhere they pulled out and unleashed two rocket-propelled grenades. I dive for cover but one of them hit home at the boulder that was giving me cover. And as if they sensed my sudden vulnerability they started ricocheting bullets, dust, shrapnel and flying rock particles everywhere.

The gunfire slowed as they began to ascend the hill, and I waited for a heartbeat before stepping out and once again hitting the trigger of my weapon over and over. I'm not really sure what I hit but it all of a sudden went very quiet again.

Ducking behind a tree I wait for any sound of approaching footsteps, and when none arrive I step out and make my way back towards the blown apart boulder. Looking over it I see two dead men and a wounded one reaching for his weapon when he sees me standing there. Raising my gun I steadily aim it at him and shake my head "Don't even try it" I shout out to him and even though I know he can't understand my language his hand retreats back to his side.

"What the hell" a voice I recognize suddenly says from behind me.

"Got one injured and another one who's MIA" at my words Jacobs rifle is up and scanning the area for our missing guy.

"You hit?"

"No I'm good, it's too dangerous to stay here let's retreat back to Red One"

"What about him?" he asks with a disgusted glare at the man who I'm still holding at gunpoint.

"No doubt they will come back for him, lets move out" and with that we steadily begin to make our way back to the drop off point, our eyes peeled for anything suspicious "Team 2 retreat back to Red One over" I command via my radio.

Jacob kneels down and looks down the sight of his rifle as we hit the peak of the mountain "Its pretty steep but I think we can make it" he says before moving his rifle behind his back and smiling up at me before jumping off.

Shaking my head I take one last look around before deeming the area clear and following after him.

**A/N – Thank you all for your support on the last chapter and I hope I continue to make a story that you will all enjoy.**

**Please if you have time leave a review.**


	3. Chapter Two

II

_Another Day in Hell_

Each one of my men grabs the rope, which is currently hanging out the side of our transport up the mountain; and slides down effortlessly. It was a drop of around fifteen feet, the biting, bitter wind stinging our faces as we descend. As we touch ground we all still in our position as the sound of the helicopter slowly disappears into the distance. We wait for around ten minutes and when no sign of enemy contact makes its self-known I signal for my men to move forward.

"Locus two one, this is Ghost Five preparing to move over," I whisper to the AC-130; which I know is currently circling above us from above, via my radio.

"Roger that Ghost Five"

With that we begin our descent down the mountain to our pre-planned position. The walk would take us roughly three and a half hours if we manage to navigate the mountain promptly and without disturbance. And it would have been straightforward if it weren't for the rain pelting down on us. The terrain became so slippery and hard to find any sort of foothold as we make our way down the steep valley.

"Fuck" Jacob swears when his feet slip from underneath him sending him skidding down until he manages to hold onto a tree.

"Nice going idiot" his brother snickers as we pass the man who is now wiping the mud from his gloved hands.

"It's a good job we are going this way huh?" Emmett chides as he points downwards "all that time spent on your arse might come in useful"

"Fuck you"

As the hours go by the rain stops, the clouds disperse and then the sun comes out to dry us off. Holding a hand up I block the glare for a moment before pulling out my black sunglasses and putting them on. I quicken my pace until I'm walking side by side with Paul "By my watch we should be close?" he pulls out his GPS and taps the screen a few times before answering.

"Should be coming into view anytime now" we walked for another ten minutes before we broke through the trees and to a cliff edge, and as I'd predicated the village was right there in front of us and far off into the distance. Pulling out my binos I sit down on the ground and rub the dirt from the lense before looking down them.

The village below me is situated between the valley of two different mountains. A rocky river running straight through it, which divides the town in two, a wooden bridge being the only way to access the other sides. Flat roofed mud houses are scattered around haphazardly, almost like someone just randomly walked over to a plot of land and said, "Build here!"

Market stalls are strewn across both sides of the river, selling foods, clothes and even weaponry.

"Alright I want you on intel, photograph anything suspicious"

"Roger that" Paul replies before finding some cover behind a group of rocks and then he begins to pull out a top of the range camera and a laptop.

"Emmett your on security, Jacob your with me" I instruct whilst eyeing up my own position under a tall tree.

We stay up here as the sun beats down on us from our position approximately half way down the mountain. We are currently twelve hours into an intelligence mission, which shows no sign of ending. Laying flat on my stomach I look once again down the sight of my sniper rifle, to the village below.

Paul had finished gathering intelligence around five hours ago but for some reason Command wants us to stay up here and report anything 'unusual'

"Had an email from Leah last night" Jacob suddenly says from beside me. We had kept up the idle chitchat for around two hours before we both ran out of things to say.

"And?" I question in a bored tone.

"And you remember that girl I mentioned a few months back who was asking about you?"

"Vividly yeah" I mumble as I follow a young kid who is walking way too fast for my liking.

"Well she asked again for you, her names Victoria if you're interested"

"Who?"

"Victoria, you met her at my birthday party last year, she's the redhead" I half listen as Jacob mutters on about this Victoria person but my attention is now trained on the kid down at the village. He walks up to a shabby looking house and raps on the wooden door. He waits, shifting from one foot to the other for the door to open. When it does he starts to talk immediately, his hands dramatically moving in front of him as he explains something to the middle aged man in front of him.

The man suddenly grabs hold of the kid by the scruff of his neck and screams something in his face, and then almost as if it were in slow motion the kid points up the mountain and straight at where we are lay.

"Shit" I breathe out as the man follows the kid's hand with his eyes and looks more of less directly at me. He cannot see me from this distance but I know that he is now aware he is looking straight at the U.S Military.

"What?"

"We've been made, get command on comms now!" I say into my radio as I watch the man shout something into the house and almost instantly six men come running out and towards us with guns in their hands "retreat"

"Choppers gonna be waiting at the evac point" Paul says over the radio as we run back up the mountain.

"That's a fucking hour away" Jacob fumes from beside me, but I don't reply. As I run I try and calculate in my head how long it will take the enemy to reach us. We are running more or less directly across the mountain to a cliff; that was tagged as the evac point for this mission, so we are not ascending or descending. That means that all the enemy needs to do is reach our previous position, which should take around thirty minutes, then they can just follow our tracks directly to us.

"It's gonna be tight but we can make it" I grunt. We run literally for our lives, I mean yes we could turn around and fight but it will be one that we would never win. Four Navy SEALs against god knows how many of them, tens or hundreds it doesn't matter because we are still outnumbered and it's hard to know what sort of training they will have had. Yes it will be nowhere near the level or standard of training that we went through, but all they need to know is how to pull that trigger. If fifty men or women shoot a gun at someone, odds are that one of them bullets is going to hit home.

I might be stubborn and cocky at times but even I know that it is a feat that we will never achieve. That's why when the chopper came into view I could have kissed the pilot, I did manage to control that urge however and as Emmett climbed into the chopper I bent down to my knee and provided cover. Next were Jacob and the Paul.

But as I turn and run towards the chopper bullets begin ricocheting off the ground near my feet "Fucking move it Swan!" Emmett shouts whilst firing his weapon into the tree line. I grasp the hand that's being held out and it pulls me safely into the chopper, which immediately pulls away, all the while Emmett and Jacob continue to fire.

"Damn that was a close one" Jacob states breathlessly as he settles into a sitting position. Nodding I let go of Paul's hand, pull myself up and lean back against the pilots seat.

"Jake" Paul whispers from beside me and as I look over at him all the color drains from my face.

**A/N – Sorry for the wait. What do you think? Will Paul survive or not?**

**Please review if you can spare the time.**


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